Could the new bin charges be abolished by Coveney?
QI am appalled at new bin charges, as you highlighted last week. My annual bill will go up by 70%. And Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald says 90% of people will pay more. But the Department of the Environment website still says 90% of people will save money. Who is right? Is there any way it can be reversed?
AEnvironment Minister Simon Coveney hoped to curry political favour when he abolished the minimum and very modest 2c per kilo green bin charge.
However, he has unleashed a storm of protest instead because he simultaneously and somewhat naively, it appears, brought in minimum, not maximum, charges.
Mr Coveney said: ‘The change will allow collectors the maximum flexibility to charge for this waste stream on a pay-by-weight basis.’
Not surprisingly, the privately owned and profit-oriented bin companies responded to this invitation by hiking charges.
The claim that 90% of people would save money, as stated by former minister Alan Kelly in February, preceded the announcement of actual charges by private companies. How he knew how much people would save or lose is open to question.
Mr Coveney rowed back on this in his more recent announcement.
He merely said: ‘Pay-by-weight charging should provide better value for households who minimise their waste and segregate correctly.’
The problem is that a lot of families, who use nappies for example, can’t recycle their charged waste away and will certainly face higher bills.
I’m more inclined to believe the hordes of people contacting us and other media outlets to complain about higher charges, even those who recycle.
Minister Coveney met bin companies on Friday to address the issue, warning that the Government will do whatever is needed to ensure price reductions. Whether that threat is enough to rein in the bin companies remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil turned up the political heat by warning of a ‘difficult summer’ if action is not taken.
QI looked at the VHI website for the plan you recommended last Sunday (Company Plus Level 1.3). It doesn’t appear to be listed. I was able to find it only by using their search function. What is VHI’s policy on providing access to details of all of its plans?
ALast week’s My View revealed how the best plans with all the bells and whistles are aimed at big corporate clients, not the general public – and your experience underlines this.
‘Health insurance companies are all the same. They keep the best wine under the counter for the best customers. You have to ask for it,’ said health insurance expert Dermot Goode of Totalhealthcover.ie.
‘The only website that clearly compares all plans is the Health Insurance Authority website, hia.ie,’ an easy-to-use and invaluable tool.
Goode advised: ‘Never buy health insurance online.’ He said insurers love when you do, because not only can they steer you into the plans that suit them, they also have less responsibility.
Insurers are tightly regulated by the Central Bank now and if you talk to them, you make them take on the role of adviser and they must give you fair and accurate advice if you ask the right questions.
‘Ask about a specific plan (such as the one we recommended),’ said Dermot Goode.
I put it to the VHI spokeswoman that the best corporate plans seem to be kept under wraps.
She replied: ‘Details of all our plans, including our corporate plans are available on vhi.ie.’
Like you, I looked on the site and at first couldn’t find it. It’s not listed with the main plans. But if you click on one of the other plans listed – such as the Company Plus plan – at the bottom of the page, there’s another button called ‘show all plans’. Click on this and you get a longer list, including the plan you want. So it’s there, but only if you look for it.